US President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the University of Delaware’s graduation ceremony in Newark, Delaware, on the 28th. Newark = Associated Press
Buffalo, New York, Uvaldi, Texas… . U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have expressed their will to “respond decisively” to the recent frequent shootings in the United States. They criticized the mass shootings as based on racism and stressed the need for Americans to unite and resist the trend. It is argued that so-called ‘white supremacy’ should be rooted out.
“The Nazi torch is being lit again in the 1930s,” Biden said in a speech at his alma mater’s University of Delaware’s graduation ceremony on the 28th (local time), according to the White House. pinched “We must become stronger in the face of destructive forces,” he said. “We cannot outlaw the tragedy, but we can make America safer.” “The dark forces think they can shape America’s future, but remember they’re wrong,” Biden said. He added that he had to show America’s ‘potential’ to make America a better place than it is now.
US Vice President Kamala Harris (front row, right) and her husband Douglas Emhoff pay flowers at the funeral of the victims of the massacre in Buffalo, New York, on the 28th. Buffalo = AFP Yonhap News
On the same day, Vice President Harris made a surprise visit to the funeral of the late Ruth Whitfield, a victim of the Buffalo massacre on the 14th, reported The Hill, an American political media outlet. “The United States is going through an epidemic of ‘hate’,” Harris said in his eulogy at the event. “There’s a connection between what happened in Texas, Atlanta, Orlando, etc., and the disaster,” he said. “We are stronger than those who try to harm America,” Harris said. It is a declaration that the far-right forces, such as the issue of racism, are weak in the United States, but can break their will with a united force.
However, it is unclear whether the remarks of President Biden and Vice President Harris will become a reality. The New York Times (NYT) said, “There is a perception in Congress and the White House, as well as across the United States, that this time needs to be changed somehow.” It is said that politicians brought up gun control even after the previous massacre, but with no results. The New York Times urged the United States to act, saying, “The UK has banned semi-automatic weapons and handguns after the 1987-1996 massacres, and Australia has been retrieving firearms since the 1996 massacre.”
Jinwook Kim reporter kimjinuk@hankookilbo.com
